1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus for fixing protective moldings to vehicle bodies, and more particularly, an apparatus for fixing a protective molding to a side portion of a vehicle body by means of pressing the protective molding which is attached temporarily to the side portion of the vehicle body against the vehicle body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has been proposed a vehicle body having its side portions on which protective moldings are mounted for lessening scraped damages inflicted on the side portions of the vehicle body. In a process usually taken for mounting the protective molding on the side portion of the vehicle body, the protective molding is first attached temporarily to the side portion of the vehicle body which is conveyed along an automatic assembly line and then pressed against the vehicle body by a pressure roller so as to be fixed to the side portion of the vehicle body, as disclosed in, for example, the Japanese utility model application published before examination under publication number 59/113334.
In the mounting of the protective molding thus carried out, the pressure roller used for fixing the protective molding to the side portion of the vehicle body is supported to be rotatable freely by an arm member which is disposed to extend toward the vehicle body generally in a direction at a predetermined angle, for example, an angle of thirty degrees or more, to a direction of conveyance of the vehicle body. On the occasion of fixing of the protective molding, the pressure roller supported by the arm member first comes into contact with a front end of a front bumper mounted on the vehicle body which is conveyed on the automatic assembly line and then is rotated in contact successively with the front end of the front bumper, a side end of the front bumper and the side portion of the vehicle body with the forward movement of the vehicle body so as to press the protective molding which is attached temporarily on the side portion of the vehicle body against the vehicle body.
In such fixing of the protective molding, for the purpose of having the protective molding fixed securely, it is considered to increase the pressure applied to the protective molding by the pressure roller. However, when the pressure applied to the protective molding by the pressure roller is increased, a relatively large force acts upon the arm member when the pressure roller operates to press the protective molding against the vehicle body and thereby it is feared that the arm member is undesirably bent.
In the case where the rigidity of the arm member is increased so as to be prevented from bending, it necessarily follows that the weight of the arm member is increased. This results in that the pressure roller being moved with increased inertia to the side portion of the vehicle body from the side end of the front bumper at a difference in level of surface between the side end of the front bumper and the side portion of the vehicle body which is being conveyed so as to give a severe blow to the side portion of the vehicle body and thereby a problem that the side portion of the vehicle body may be damaged.